Method and apparatus for processing resources

ABSTRACT

A method and an apparatus for allocating processing resources may be used in a wireless communication network. The method includes: configuring by a base station, a first sidelink resource pool and a second sidelink resource pool. The first sidelink resource pool is a resource pool of sidelinks that can be used by a user equipment (UE) after entering an idle state or an inactive state, and the second sidelink resource pool being a resource pool of sidelinks that can be used by the UE in the idle state or the inactive state after the first sidelink resource pool has been released. The method further includes: sending by the base station, information of the first sidelink resource pool and information of the second sidelink resource pool to the UE.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is the US national phase application of InternationalApplication No. PCT/CN2019/107567, filed on Sep. 24, 2019, the entirecontents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates to the field of wireless communicationtechnology, in particular to a method and an apparatus for processingresources, and a computer storage medium.

BACKGROUND

In order to support direct communication between user equipment (UEs), asidelink communication mode has been introduced. A sidelink may also bereferred to as a secondary link or a side link.

At present, a UE in the idle state may only use the broadcasted sidelinkresource pool. The broadcasted sidelink resource pool needs to reserveresources, but the network cannot know service of the UE in the idlestate, and thus cannot reasonably adjust the reserved resources, whichmay lead to low resource utilization or fierce competition for the useof reserved resources.

SUMMARY

According to a first aspect of the disclosure, a method for processingresources, is provided. The method is performed by a base station, andincludes:

configuring a first sidelink resource pool and a second sidelinkresource pool, wherein the first sidelink resource pool is a resourcepool of sidelinks that can be used by a user equipment (UE) afterentering an idle state or an inactive state, and the second sidelinkresource pool is a resource pool of sidelinks that can be used by the UEin the idle state or the inactive state after the first sidelinkresource pool is released;

sending information of the first sidelink resource pool and informationof the second sidelink resource pool to the UE.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a method forprocessing resources is provided. The method is performed by a UE, andincludes:

receiving information of a first sidelink resource pool and informationof a second sidelink resource pool;

storing the information of the first sidelink resource pool and theinformation of the second sidelink resource pool;

after entering an idle state or an inactive state, using resources inthe first sidelink resource pool for sidelink data transmission;

after the first sidelink resource pool is released, using resources inthe second sidelink resource pool for sidelink data transmission.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, a base station isprovided. The base station includes:

a processor;

a memory configured to store instructions executable by the processor;

wherein, the processor is configured to implement the method forprocessing resources described in the first aspect by executing theinstructions.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a UE isprovided. The apparatus includes:

a processor;

a memory configured to store instructions executable by the processor;

wherein, the processor is configured to implement the method forprocessing resources described in the second aspect by executing theinstructions.

It should be understood that the above general description and thefollowing detailed description are only exemplary and explanatory, andcannot limit the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with thedisclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication systemaccording to an example embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart 1 of a method for processing resources accordingto an example embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart 2 of a method for processing resources accordingto an example embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart 1 of resource processing according to an exampleembodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart 2 of resource processing according to an exampleembodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart 3 of resource processing according to an exampleembodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram 1 of an apparatus for processing resourcesaccording to an example embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram 2 of an apparatus for processing resourcesaccording to an example embodiment.

FIG. 9 is block diagram 1 of an apparatus for processing resourcesaccording to an example embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram 2 of an apparatus for processing resourcesaccording to an example embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example embodiments will be explained in detail here, and examples areshown in the attached drawings. Where the following description relatesto appended drawings, the same numbers in different appended drawingsindicate the same or similar elements, unless otherwise indicated.Implementations described in the following example embodiments do notrepresent all implementations consistent with the present invention.Rather, they are merely examples of devices and methods which areconsistent with some aspects of the invention as detailed in theattached claims.

The terms used in embodiments of the disclosure are intended merely todescribe a particular embodiment and are not intended to limitembodiments of the disclosure. The singular forms “one”, “a” and “the”used in embodiments of the disclosure and the attached claims are alsointended to include majority forms, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It should also be understood that the terms “and/or” usedherein refer to and include any or all possible combinations of one ormore associated listed items.

It should be understood that, although terms first, second, third, etc.,may be used in embodiments of the disclosure to describe variousinformation, such information should not be limited to those terms.These terms are used only to distinguish information of the same typefrom one another. For example, without departing from the scope ofembodiments of the disclosure, first information may also be referred toas second information, and similarly, second information may also bereferred to as first information. Depending on the context, the words“if” used here can be interpreted as “when . . . ” or “in a case that .. . ” or “ in response to determining”.

Refer to FIG. 1, which shows a schematic diagram of a wirelesscommunication system provided by embodiments of the disclosure. As shownin FIG. 1, the wireless communication system is a communication systembased on cellular mobile communication technology. The wirelesscommunication system can include several terminals 11 and several basestations 12.

The terminal 11 may be a device that provides voice and/or dataconnectivity to users. The terminal 11 can communicate with one or morecore networks over a Radio Access Network (RAN), and the terminal 11 maybe IoT terminals such as sensor devices, mobile phones (or “cellular”phones), and computers with IoT terminals, for example, which may bestationary, portable, pocket, handheld, computer-built orvehicle-mounted devices. For example, station, STA, subscriber unit,subscriber station, mobile station, mobile, remote station, accesspoint, remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal, user agent, userdevice, or user equipment (UE). Alternatively, the terminal 11 may alsobe an unmanned vehicle. Alternatively, the terminal 11 may also be anon-board device, for example, a driving computer with wirelesscommunication capabilities, or a wireless communication device connectedto an external driving computer. Alternatively, the terminal 11 may alsobe a roadside device, such as a street lamp, signal light, or otherroadside device with wireless communication capabilities.

The base station 12 may be a network side device in a wirelesscommunication system. The wireless communication system may be the 4thgeneration mobile communication (4G) system, also known as Long TermEvolution (LTE) system. Alternatively, the wireless communication systemmay be a 5G system, also known as a New Radio (NR) system or a 5G NRsystem. Alternatively, the wireless communication system may be the nextgeneration of 5G systems. The access network in 5G system may be calledNG-RAN (New Generation-Radio Access Network). Alternatively, thewireless communication system may be a machine-type Communication (MTC)system.

The base station 12 may be an evolved base station (eNB) used in 4Gsystems. Alternatively, the base station 12 may also be a base stationwith a centralized distributed architecture (gNB) in 5G systems. Whenthe base station 12 adopts a centralized distributed architecture, itusually includes a central unit (CU) and at least two distributed units(DUs). The centralized unit is set with protocol stacks of Packet DataConvergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, MediaAccess Control (Media Access Control) layer. The distributed unit isprovided with a Physical (PHY) layer protocol stack. The specificimplementation of the base station 12 is not limited in embodiments ofthe disclosure.

A wireless connection may be established between the base station 12 andthe terminal 11 through a radio-based air interface. In differentimplementations, the radio-based air interface is based on the fourthgeneration mobile communication network technology (4G) standard; or,the radio-based air interface is based on the fifth generation mobilecommunication network technology (5G) standard, such as the radio-basedair interface is a new air interface; or, the radio air interface may bebased on the next generation mobile network technology standards of 5G.

In some embodiments, an E2E (End to End) connection may also beestablished between terminals 11, for example, in vehicle-to-vehicle(V2V), vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), and vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P)communication in Vehicle to Everything (V2X) communication scenarios.

In some embodiments, the wireless communication system may also includea network management device 13.

Several base stations 12 are connected with the network managementdevice 13 respectively. The network management device 13 may a corenetwork device in a wireless communication system. For example, thenetwork management device 13 may be a Mobility Management Entity (MME)in Evolved Packet Core (EPC) networks. Alternatively, the networkmanagement device may be other core network devices, such as the ServingGate Way (SGW), Public Data Network Gate Way (PGW), Policy and ChargingRules Function (PCRF) or Home Subscriber Server (HSS), etc. Theimplementation form of the network management device 13 is not limitedin embodiments of the disclosure.

In the 4G era, in order to support direct communication between UEs, asidelink communication method was introduced. The interface between theUEs is a computer interface, such as a PC-5 interface. The transmissionof the sidelink realizes addressing through the source identifier andthe destination identifier of the media access control (MAC) layer, andthere is no need to establish a connection before transmission.

There are two allocation methods for the transmission resources of thesidelink, one is the UE's autonomous selection method based on theresource pool, and the other is the network-based dynamic schedulingmethod.

The sidelink resource pool can be configured to the UE through broadcastor dedicated signaling. The sidelink resource pool configured to the UEthrough the dedicated signaling can only be used in the connected state.When the UE enters the idle state, the sidelink resource pool configuredby the dedicated signaling will be deleted, and the dedicated signalingused is an RRC reconfiguration message.

The base station configures a special sidelink resource pool(exceptional pool) for the UE. When the UE cannot obtain the sidelinktransmission resources in a short time, the UE can use the resources inthe exceptional pool for sidelink transmission.

In the 5G era, a new state—inactive state is introduced. The basestation may send an RRC release message to the UE in the connectedstate, to control the UE to enter the inactive state. In the inactivestate, the base station retains the context of the UE, and the basestation configures a Radio Access Network (RAN) area for the UE. The RANarea may be composed of one or more cells, and the UE can perform cellreselection in the RAN area. When the UE leaves the RAN area, the UEneeds to enter the connected state to update the RAN area. When the UEneeds to communicate with the base station, it needs to re-enter theconnected state. When downlink data arrives, the network can broadcast aRAN paging message, which carries a UE identifier (I-RNTI), in the RANarea to page the UE, and the UE enters the connected state through theResume process.

At present, the UE in the idle state can only use the broadcast sidelinkresource pool. The broadcasted sidelink resource pool needs to reserveresources, but the network cannot know the service of the UE in the idlestate, and thus cannot reasonably adjust the reserved resources, whichmay lead to low resource utilization rate.

Based on the above wireless communication system, in order to improvethe resource utilization rate, various embodiments of the method of thepresent disclosure are proposed.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart 1 of a method for processing resources accordingto an example embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the method for processingresources is applied in a base station and includes the following steps.

In step S11, a first sidelink resource pool and a second sidelinkresource pool are configured. The first sidelink resource pool is aresource pool of sidelinks that can be used by a user equipment (UE)after entering an idle state or an inactive state, and the secondsidelink resource pool is a resource pool of sidelinks that can be usedby the UE in the idle state or the inactive state after the firstsidelink resource pool is released.

A priority of the first sidelink resource pool is higher than a priorityof the second sidelink resource pool.

That is to say, in a case that there is both the first sidelink resourcepool and the second sidelink resource pool, the UE uses the resources ofthe first sidelink resource pool to send sidelink data. In a case thatthere is only the second sidelink resource pool, the UE uses theresources of the second sidelink resource pool to send sidelink data.

In step S12, information of the first sidelink resource pool andinformation of the second sidelink resource pool are sent to the UE.

In this way, the base station configures the first sidelink resourcepool and the second sidelink resource pool for the UE, and sends theinformation of the first sidelink resource pool and the information ofthe second sidelink resource pool to the UE, so that when the UE entersthe idle state or the inactive state, the UE uses the dedicated sidelinkresources for sidelink data transmission instead of using the sidelinkresources broadcast by the base station, reducing competitors for UEsthat are not allocated dedicated sidelink resources. Since the basestation knows which UEs have allocated sidelink resources, the basestation can adjust, recover and reallocate sidelink resources based onthe allocation situation, so as to improve resource utilization.

In an embodiment, sending the information of the first sidelink resourcepool and the information of the second sidelink resource pool to the UEincludes:

sending an RRC reconfiguration message or an RRC release messagecarrying the information of the first sidelink resource pool and theinformation of the second sidelink resource pool.

In this way, the information of the first sidelink resource pool and theinformation of the second sidelink resource pool can be sent to the UEthrough the RRC reconfiguration message or the RRC release message, soas to inform the UE of the information of sidelink resources allocatedby the base station for the UE. By indicating the information of thefirst sidelink resource pool and the information of the second sidelinkresource pool through the existing signaling that can configure the UE,such as the RRC reconfiguration message or the RRC release message, thenumber of signaling can be saved.

In an embodiment, sending the information of the first sidelink resourcepool and the information of the second sidelink resource pool to the UEincludes:

sending a dedicated signaling carrying the information of the firstsidelink resource pool and the information of the second sidelinkresource pool.

Here, the dedicated signaling may be a signaling specially defined forsending the information of the first sidelink resource pool and theinformation of the second sidelink resource pool.

In this way, the information of the first sidelink resource pool and theinformation of the second sidelink resource pool can be sent to the UEthrough dedicated signaling, so as to inform the UE of the informationof sidelink resources allocated by the base station for the UE.

In the above solution, the method further includes:

sending usage duration information of the first sidelink resource pool.

It should be noted that the usage duration can be set or adjustedaccording to the actual situation or design requirements.

In this way, by sending the usage duration information, the UE can beinformed of the effective usage duration of the resources in the firstsidelink resource pool allocated to the UE, so that the resources in thefirst sidelink resource pool can be prevented from being occupied for along time, and the resources in the first sidelink resource pool can berecovered and reallocated, which improves resource utilization.

Further, the method further includes:

configuring a timer for the first sidelink resource pool according tothe duration information; and

in response to a timeout of the timer, releasing the first sidelinkresource pool.

In this way, it is possible to reduce resource waste caused by beingoccupied for a long time.

In an embodiment, the method further includes:

sending a Radio Access Network (RAN) paging message to the UE in theinactive state, the RAN paging message carrying information instructingthe UE to delete the first sidelink resource pool.

In this way, the information of deleting the first sidelink resourcepool can be sent to the UE through the RAN paging message, so as toinform the UE that the base station will recover the resources of thefirst sidelink resource pool allocated for the UE.

In an embodiment, the method further includes:

sending a paging message to the UE in the idle state, the paging messagecarrying information instructing the UE to delete the first sidelinkresource pool.

In this way, the information of deleting the first sidelink resourcepool can be notified to the UE through the paging message, so as toinform the UE that the base station will recover the resources of thefirst sidelink resource pool allocated for the UE.

In the technical solutions described in embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the base station configures the first sidelink resource pooland the second sidelink resource pool, and sends the information of thefirst sidelink resource pool and the information of the second sidelinkresource pool to the UE. The UE is allocated the resource pool ofsidelinks that the UE can use after entering the idle state or theinactive state, so that the UE can use the dedicated sidelink resourcesfor sidelink data transmission when entering the idle state or theinactive state, instead of using the sidelink resources broadcast by thebase station, which reduces the competitors of UEs that have not beenallocated dedicated sidelink resources. Since the base station knowswhich UEs are allocated the sidelink resources, the base station canreasonably adjust and recover the sidelink resources based on theallocation situation, which improves the resource utilization.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart 2 of a method for processing resources accordingto an example embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the method for processingresources is applied in a user equipment (UE) and includes the followingsteps.

In step S21, information of a first sidelink resource pool andinformation of a second sidelink resource pool are received.

As an implementation, receiving the information of the first sidelinkresource pool and the information of the second sidelink resource poolincludes:

receiving an RRC reconfiguration message or an RRC release messagecarrying the information of the first sidelink resource pool and theinformation of the second sidelink resource pool.

In this way, through the received RRC reconfiguration message or RRCrelease message, the information of sidelink resources allocated by thebase station can be known.

As an implementation, receiving the information of the first sidelinkresource pool and the information of the second sidelink resource poolincludes:

receiving a dedicated signaling carrying the information of the firstsidelink resource pool and the information of the second sidelinkresource pool.

Here, the dedicated signaling may be a signaling specially defined forsending the information of the first sidelink resource pool and theinformation of the second sidelink resource pool.

In this way, the information of sidelink resources allocated by the basestation can be obtained through the received dedicated signaling.

In step S22, the information of the first sidelink resource pool and theinformation of the second sidelink resource pool are stored.

In step S23, after entering an idle state or an inactive state,resources in the first sidelink resource pool is used for sidelink datatransmission.

In step S24, after the first sidelink resource pool is released,resources in the second sidelink resource pool is used for sidelink datatransmission.

After entering the idle state or inactive state, the resources in thefirst sidelink resource pool are used to send sidelink data; after thefirst sidelink resource pool is released, the resources in the secondsidelink resource pool are used to send sidelink data. In this way, theUE can have sidelink resources available for use in the idle state orinactive state, and can choose to use different sidelink resourcesaccording to actual situation, which ensures the smooth transmission ofsidelink data.

As an implementation, before the first sidelink resource pool isreleased, the method further includes:

ignoring broadcasted information of a third sidelink resource pool, inwhich the third sidelink resource pool is a resource pool of sidelinksthat can be used by the UE in the idle state or the inactive state.

In an embodiment, ignoring the broadcasted information of the thirdsidelink resource pool includes:

receiving the information of the third sidelink resource poolbroadcasted by the base station, reading the information of the thirdsidelink resource pool but not storing the information of the thirdsidelink resource pool.

In an embodiment, ignoring the broadcast information of the thirdsidelink resource pool includes:

receiving the information of the third sidelink resource poolbroadcasted by the base station, but not reading the information of thethird sidelink resource pool.

In this way, since the base station has allocated the first resourcepool and the second resource pool to the UE, the UE ignores the thirdresource pool broadcast by the base station and does not use theresources of the third resource pool, which provides convenience forother UEs to use the resources of the third resource pool .

In an embodiment, the method further includes:

receiving usage duration information of the first sidelink resourcepool.

After entering the idle state or the inactive state, using the resourcesin the first sidelink resource pool for sidelink data transmissionincludes:

after entering the inactive state and being within the range of theusage duration information, using the resources in the first sidelinkresource pool for the sidelink data transmission.

In this way, the UE can utilize the resources of the first sidelinkresource pool within the range of the usage duration.

In an embodiment, the method further includes:

configuring a timer for the first sidelink resource pool according tothe usage duration information; and

starting the timer in response to the UE leaving a connected state.

That is to say, when the UE enters the idle state or the inactive state,the timer is used to count the time.

In an embodiment, when the UE is in the inactive state, the methodfurther includes:

in response to detecting that the UE leaves the RAN area, deleting thestored information of the first sidelink resource pool and the storedinformation of the second sidelink resource pool.

When the UE enters the idle state or the inactive state, the firstsidelink resource pool is timed through the timer, and when the storedinformation of the first sidelink resource pool and the storedinformation of the second sidelink resource pool are deleted, the timeris stopped.

In this way, the UE can release the resources of the first sidelinkresource pool and the second link resource pool that do not match thecurrent area in time, so as to facilitate the resources of the firstsidelink resource pool and the second sidelink resource pool to berecovered and reallocated, to improve the resource utilization.

In an embodiment, when the UE is in the inactive state, the methodfurther includes:

receiving a RAN paging message, the RAN paging message carryinginformation instructing the UE to delete the first sidelink resourcepool;

deleting the information of the first sidelink resource pool based onthe RAN paging message.

When the UE enters the idle state or the inactive state, the firstsidelink resource pool is timed through the timer, and when theinformation of the first sidelink resource pool is deleted based on theRAN paging message, the timer is stopped.

In this way, the information of the first sidelink resource pool can bedeleted based on the RAN paging message, and the resources of the firstsidelink resource pool can be released, so that the resources of thefirst sidelink resource pool can be recovered and reallocated, therebyimproving the resource utilization.

In an embodiment, when the UE is in the idle state, the method furtherincludes:

in response to detecting that the UE leaves a tracking (TA) area,deleting the stored information of the first sidelink resource pool andthe stored information of the second sidelink resource pool.

When the UE enters the idle state or the inactive state, the firstsidelink resource pool is timed through the timer, and when the storedinformation of the first sidelink resource pool and the storedinformation of the second sidelink resource pool are deleted, the timeris stopped.

In this way, the UE can release the resources of the first sidelinkresource pool and the second link resource pool that do not match thecurrent area in time, so that the base station can reallocate theresources of the first sidelink resource pool and the second linkresource pool to other UEs, thereby improving the utilization rate ofsidelink resources.

In an embodiment, when the UE is in the idle state, the method furtherincludes:

receiving a paging message, the paging message carrying informationinstructing the UE to delete the first sidelink resource pool;

deleting the information of the first sidelink resource pool based onthe paging message.

When the UE enters the idle state or the inactive state, the firstsidelink resource pool is timed through the timer, and when theinformation of the first sidelink resource pool is deleted based on thepaging message, the timer is stopped.

In this way, the information of the first sidelink resource pool can bedeleted based on the paging message, and the resources of the firstsidelink resource pool can be released.

In an embodiment, the method further includes:

after the information of the first sidelink resource pool is deleted,using the resources in the second sidelink resource pool for sidelinkdata transmission until sidelink resources other than the resources inthe second sidelink resource pool are obtained.

In this way, it can be ensured that the UE in the idle state or theinactive state has available sidelink resources.

In a specific implementation, after the information of the firstsidelink resource pool is deleted, the information of the third sidelinkresource pool broadcasted by the base station is received, and based onthe information of the third sidelink resource pool, available sidelinkresources are determined.

In a specific implementation, after the information of the firstsidelink resource pool is deleted, the base station is requested foravailable sidelink resources.

It should be noted that, the manner of obtaining sidelink resourcesother than the resources in the second sidelink resource pool is notlimited in this embodiment.

In an embodiment, the method further includes:

after obtaining the sidelink resources other than the resources in thesecond sidelink resource pool, deleting the stored information of thesecond sidelink resource pool.

In this way, it can be ensured that the UE in the idle state or theinactive state has available sidelink resources.

In the technical solutions described in embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the information of the first sidelink resource pool and theinformation of the second sidelink resource pool are received; theinformation of the first sidelink resource pool and the information ofthe second sidelink resource pool are stored; after entering the idlestate or inactive state, the resources in the first sidelink resourcepool are used for sidelink data transmission; and after the firstsidelink resource pool is released, the resources in the second sidelinkresource pool is used for sidelink data transmission. In this way, theUE can have sidelink resources available for use in the idle state orthe inactive state, and can use different sidelink resources accordingto different options in actual situations.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart 1 of resource processing according to an exampleembodiment, which includes the following steps.

In step S401, a base station sends an RRC reconfiguration message to aUE, the RRC reconfiguration message carrying information of a firstsidelink resource pool and information of a second sidelink resourcepool and indicating that resources in the first sidelink resource pooland the second sidelink resource pool can be used in an idle state or aninactive state.

In step S402, the base station sends an RRC release message to the UE,the RRC release message instructing the UE to enter the inactive stateand carrying a timer with a timing duration of 10 minutes.

In step S403, the UE enters the inactive state after receiving the RRCrelease message, uses the resources of the first sidelink resource poolfor sidelink data transmission, and starts the timer.

In step S404, in response to a timeout of the timer, the UE releases thestored information of the first sidelink resource pool, and uses theresources of the second sidelink resource pool for sidelink datatransmission, and at the same time, tries to read broadcast of the basestation to obtain information of a third sidelink resource pool in thebroadcast.

In step S405, in response to obtaining the information of the thirdsidelink resource pool, the UE deletes the stored information of thesecond sidelink resource pool.

In the solution described in this embodiment, when the UE is in theinactive state, there are sidelink resources available for the UE touse.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart 2 of resource processing according to an exampleembodiment, which includes the following steps.

In step S501, a base station sends an RRC release message to a UE, theRRC release message carrying information of a first sidelink resourcepool and information of a second sidelink resource pool and indicatingthat resources in the first sidelink resource pool and the secondsidelink resource pool can be used in an idle state or an inactivestate.

In step S502, the UE enters an inactive state after receiving the RRCrelease message, and uses the resources of the first sidelink resourcepool for sidelink data transmission.

In step S503, the UE receives a RAN paging message broadcast by the basestation, the RAN paging message carrying an identifier of the UE and anindication of releasing the information of the first sidelink resourcepool.

In step S504, after receiving the RAN paging message carrying theidentifier of the UE, the UE releases the stored information of thefirst sidelink resource pool, uses the resources of the second sidelinkresource pool for sidelink data transmission, and at the same time,tries to read broadcast of the base station to obtain information of athird sidelink resource pool in the broadcast.

In step S505, in response to obtaining the information of the thirdsidelink resource pool, the UE deletes the stored information of thesecond sidelink resource pool.

In the solution described in this embodiment, when the UE is in theinactive state, there are sidelink resources available for the UE touse.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart 3 of resource processing according to an exampleembodiment, which includes following steps.

In step S601, a base station sends an RRC release message to a UE, theRRC release message carrying information of a first sidelink resourcepool and information of a second sidelink resource pool and indicatingthat resources in the first sidelink resource pool and the secondsidelink resource pool can be used in an idle state or an inactivestate, and configures an RAN area including cell a and cell b.

In step S602, the UE enters the inactive state after receiving the RRCrelease message, and uses the resources of the first sidelink resourcepool for sidelink data transmission.

In step S603, when the UE moves to cell c, the UE deletes the storedinformation of the first sidelink resource pool and information of thesecond sidelink resource pool.

In the solution described in this embodiment, when the UE is in theinactive state, there are sidelink resources available for the UE touse.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram 1 of an apparatus for processing resourcesaccording to an example embodiment. The apparatus for processingresources is applied to a base station, and referring to FIG. 7, theapparatus includes a determining unit 10 and a sending unit 20.

The determining unit 10 is configured to configure a first sidelinkresource pool and a second sidelink resource pool. The first sidelinkresource pool is a resource pool of sidelinks that can be used by a userequipment (UE) after entering an idle state or an inactive state, andthe second sidelink resource pool is a resource pool of sidelinks thatcan be used by the UE in the idle state or the inactive state after thefirst sidelink resource pool is released.

The sending unit 20 is configured to send information of the firstsidelink resource pool and information of the second sidelink resourcepool to the UE.

In an implementation, the sending unit 20 is configured to:

send a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message or an RRCrelease message carrying the information of the first sidelink resourcepool and the information of the second sidelink resource pool.

In an implementation, the sending unit 20 is further configured to sendusage duration information of the first sidelink resource pool.

In an implementation, the determining unit 10 is further configured to:

configure a timer for the first sidelink resource pool according to theduration information;

in response to timeout of the timer, release the first sidelink resourcepool.

In an implementation, the sending unit 20 is further configured to:

send a radio access network (RAN) paging message to the UE in theinactive state, the RAN paging message carrying information instructingthe UE to delete the first sidelink resource pool.

In an implementation, the sending unit 20 is further configured to:

send a paging message to the UE in the idle state, the paging messagecarrying information instructing the UE to delete the first sidelinkresource pool.

Regarding the apparatus in the above embodiments, the specific manner inwhich each module performs operations has been described in detail inembodiments of the method, and will not be described in detail here.

In practical applications, the specific structures of the determiningunit 10 and the sending unit 20 may be implemented by the centralprocessing unit (CPU), the micro controller unit (MCU) the digitalsignal processor (DSP) or the programmable logic controller (PLC) in theapparatus for processing resources or the base station to which theapparatus for processing resources belongs.

The apparatus for processing resources described in this embodiment maybe applied on the base station side.

Those skilled in the art should understand that the functions of eachprocessing module in the apparatus for processing resources ofembodiments of the present disclosure can be understood by referring tothe foregoing description of the method for processing resources appliedto the base station side. Each module in the apparatus for processingresources of embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented byan analog circuit that implements the functions described in theembodiments of the present disclosure, and may also be implemented byrunning software on a terminal that implements the functions describedin the embodiments of the present disclosure.

The apparatus for processing resources described in embodiments of thepresent disclosure allocates the resource pool of sidelinks that can beused after entering the idle state or the inactive state for the UE, andallocates and reserves the sidelink resources for some UEs in a targetedmanner, which can reduce the competition between UEs for the broadcastreserved sidelink resources. Since the base station knows the reservedresources allocated for each UE, it can reasonably adjust, recover orreallocate the reserved resources based on the allocation situation,which improves the resource utilization rate.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram 2 of an apparatus for processing resourcesaccording to an example embodiment. The apparatus for processingresources is applied to the UE side. With reference to FIG. 8, theapparatus includes a receiving unit 30, a storage unit 40 and a controlunit 50.

The receiving unit 30 is configured to receive information of a firstsidelink resource pool and information of a second sidelink resourcepool.

The storage unit 40 is configured to store the information of the firstsidelink resource pool and the information of the second sidelinkresource pool.

The control unit 50 is configured to, after a UE enters an idle state oran inactive state, use resources in the first sidelink resource pool forsidelink data transmission.

The control unit 50 is further configured to, after the first sidelinkresource pool is released, use resources in the second sidelink resourcepool for sidelink data transmission.

In the above solution, the control unit 50 is further configured to:

before the first sidelink resource pool is released, ignore broadcastedinformation of a third sidelink resource pool, wherein the thirdsidelink resource pool is a resource pool of sidelinks that can be usedby the UE in the idle state or the inactive state.

In the above solution, the receiving unit 30 is configured to: receivean RRC reconfiguration message or an RRC release message carrying theinformation of the first sidelink resource pool and the information ofthe second sidelink resource pool.

In the above solution, the receiving unit 30 is further configured toreceive usage duration information of the first sidelink resource pool;

the control unit 50 is further configured to:

after entering the inactive state and being within a range of the usageduration information, use the resources in the first sidelink resourcepool for sidelink data transmission.

In the above solution, the control unit 50 is further configured to:

configure a timer for the first sidelink resource pool according to theusage duration information;

start the timer in response to the UE leaving a connected state.

In the above solution, the control unit 50 is further configured to:

in a case that the UE is in the inactive state, in response to detectingthat the UE leaves a RAN area, delete the stored information of thefirst sidelink resource pool and the stored information of the secondsidelink resource pool.

In the above solution, the receiving unit 30 is further configured toreceive a RAN paging message, the RAN paging message carryinginformation instructing the UE to delete the first sidelink resourcepool;

the control unit 50 is further configured to delete the information ofthe first sidelink resource pool based on the RAN paging message, in acase that the UE is in the inactive state.

In the above solution, the control unit 50 is further configured to: ina case that the UE is in the idle state, in response to detecting thatthe UE leaves a tracking (TA) area, delete the stored information of thefirst sidelink resource pool and the stored information of the secondsidelink resource pool.

In the above solution, the receiving unit 30 is further configured toreceive a paging message, the paging message carrying informationinstructing the UE to delete the first sidelink resource pool;

the control unit 50 is further configured to delete the information ofthe first sidelink resource pool based on the paging message, in a casethat the UE is in the idle state.

In the above solution, the control unit 50 is further configured to:

after deleting the information of the first sidelink resource pool, usethe resources in the second sidelink resource pool for sidelink datatransmission until sidelink resources other than the resources in thesecond sidelink resource pool are obtained.

In the above solution, the control unit 50 is further configured to:

delete the stored information of the second sidelink resource pool afterobtaining the sidelink resources other than the resources in the secondsidelink resource pool.

Regarding the apparatus in the above embodiments, the specific manner inwhich each module performs operations has been described in detail inembodiments of the method, and will not be described in detail here.

In practical applications, the specific structures of the receiving unit30, the storage unit 40 and the control unit 50 may be implemented bythe CPU, the MCU, the DSP or the PLC in the apparatus for processingresources or the terminal to which the apparatus for processingresources belongs.

The apparatus for processing resources described in this embodiment maybe applied on the terminal side.

Those skilled in the art should understand that the functions of eachprocessing module in the apparatus for processing resources ofembodiments of the present disclosure can be understood by referring tothe foregoing description of the method for processing resources appliedto the base station side. Each module in the apparatus for processingresources of embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented byan analog circuit that implements the functions described in theembodiments of the present disclosure, and may also be implemented byrunning software on a terminal that implements the functions describedin the embodiments of the present disclosure.

The apparatus for processing resources described in embodiments of thepresent disclosure enables the UE to have sidelink resources availablefor use in the idle state or the inactive state, and to select and usedifferent sidelink resources according to different actual situations.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an apparatus 800 for implementinginformation processing according to an example embodiment of thedisclosure. For example, the apparatus 800 may be a mobile phone, acomputer, a digital broadcasting terminal, a messaging device, a gameconsole, a tablet device, a medical equipment, a fitness equipment, apersonal digital assistant, etc.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, the apparatus 800 may include one or morecomponents: a processing component 802, a memory 804, a power component806, a multimedia component 808, an audio component 810, an input/output(I/O) interface 812, a sensor component 814, and a communicationcomponent 816.

The processing component 802 typically controls overall operations ofthe apparatus 800, such as the operations associated with display,telephone calls, data communications, camera operations, and recordingoperations. The processing component 802 may include one or moreprocessors 820 to execute instructions to perform all or part of thesteps in the above described methods. Moreover, the processing component802 may include one or more modules which facilitate the interactionbetween the processing component 802 and other components. For instance,the processing component 802 may include a multimedia module tofacilitate the interaction between the multimedia component 808 and theprocessing component 802.

The memory 804 is configured to store various types of data to supportthe operation of the apparatus 800. Examples of such data includeinstructions for any applications or methods operated on the apparatus800, contact data, phonebook data, messages, pictures, video, etc. Thememory 804 may be implemented using any type of volatile or non-volatilememory devices, or a combination thereof, such as a static random accessmemory (SRAM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory(EEPROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), aprogrammable read-only memory (PROM), a read-only memory (ROM), amagnetic memory, a flash memory, a magnetic or optical disk.

The power component 806 provides power to various components of theapparatus 800. The power component 806 may include a power managementsystem, one or more power sources, and any other components associatedwith the generation, management, and distribution of power in theapparatus 800.

The multimedia component 808 includes a screen providing an outputinterface between the apparatus 800 and the user. In some embodiments,the screen may include a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a touch panel(TP). If the screen includes the touch panel, the screen may beimplemented as a touch screen to receive input signals from the user.The touch panel includes one or more touch sensors to sense touches,swipes, and gestures on the touch panel. The touch sensors may not onlysense a boundary of a touch or swipe action, but also sense a period oftime and a pressure associated with the touch or swipe action. In someembodiments, the multimedia component 808 includes a front camera and/ora rear camera. The front camera and the rear camera may receive anexternal multimedia datum while the apparatus 800 is in an operationmode, such as a photographing mode or a video mode. Each of the frontcamera and the rear camera may be a fixed optical lens system or havefocus and optical zoom capability.

The audio component 810 is configured to output and/or input audiosignals. For example, the audio component 810 includes a microphone(“MIC”) configured to receive an external audio signal when theapparatus 800 is in an operation mode, such as a call mode, a recordingmode, and a voice recognition mode. The received audio signal may befurther stored in the memory 804 or transmitted via the communicationcomponent 816. In some embodiments, the audio component 810 furtherincludes a speaker to output audio signals.

The I/O interface 812 provides an interface between the processingcomponent 802 and peripheral interface modules, such as a keyboard, aclick wheel, buttons, and the like. The buttons may include, but are notlimited to, a home button, a volume button, a starting button, and alocking button.

The sensor component 814 includes one or more sensors to provide statusassessments of various aspects of the apparatus 800. For instance, thesensor component 814 may detect an open/closed status of the apparatus800, relative positioning of components, e.g., the display and thekeypad, of the apparatus 800, a change in position of the apparatus 800or a component of the apparatus 800, a presence or absence of usercontact with the apparatus 800, an orientation or anacceleration/deceleration of the apparatus 800, and a change intemperature of the apparatus 800. The sensor component 814 may include aproximity sensor configured to detect the presence of nearby objectswithout any physical contact. The sensor component 814 may also includea light sensor, such as a CMOS or CCD image sensor, for use in imagingapplications. In some embodiments, the sensor component 614 may alsoinclude an accelerometer sensor, a gyroscope sensor, a magnetic sensor,a pressure sensor, or a temperature sensor.

The communication component 816 is configured to facilitatecommunication, wired or wirelessly, between the apparatus 800 and otherdevices. The apparatus 800 can access a wireless network based on acommunication standard, such as WiFi, 2G, or 3G, or a combinationthereof. In one embodiment, the communication component 816 receives abroadcast signal or broadcast associated information from an externalbroadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In one embodiment,the communication component 816 further includes a near fieldcommunication (NFC) module to facilitate short-range communications. Forexample, the NFC module may be implemented based on a radio frequencyidentification (RFID) technology, an infrared data association (IrDA)technology, an ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, a Bluetooth (BT)technology, and other technologies.

In an example embodiment, the apparatus 800 may be implemented by one ormore application specific integrated circuits(ASIC), digital signalprocessors (DSP), digital signal processing devices (DSPD), programmablelogic devices (PLD), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), controllers,microcontrollers, microprocessors or other electronics components, toperform the method for processing resources applied on the UE side asdescribed in the above any embodiment.

In an example embodiment, there is also provided a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium including instructions, such asincluded in the memory 804, executable by the processor 820 in theapparatus 800, for performing the above-described methods. For example,the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may be a ROM, a RAM,a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disc, an optical data storagedevice, and the like.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an apparatus 900 for processing resourcesaccording to an example embodiment. For example, the apparatus 900 maybe provided as a server. Referring to FIG. 10, the apparatus 900includes a processing module 922, which in turn includes one or moreprocessors, as well as memory resources represented by a memory 932, forstoring instructions that can be executed by the processing module 922,such as applications. Applications stored in memory 932 may include oneor more modules each corresponding to a set of instructions. Inaddition, the processing component 922 is configured to executeinstructions to perform the above method for processing resourcesapplied to the base station side.

The apparatus 900 may also include a power component 926 configured toperform power management of the apparatus 900, a wired or wirelessnetwork interface 950 configured to connect the apparatus 900 to thenetwork, and an input/output (I/O) interface 958. The apparatus 900 canoperate operating systems based on the memory 932, such as WindowsServer™, Mac OS X™, Unix™, Linux™, FreeBSD™ or the like.

The technical solutions recorded in embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be arbitrarily combined without conflict.

After considering the specification and practicing the disclosureherein, those skilled in the art will easily think of other embodimentsof the present disclosure. The present application is intended to coverany variations, usages, or adaptive changes of the present disclosure.These variations, usages, or adaptive changes follow the generalprinciples of the present disclosure and include common knowledge orconventional technical means in the technical field not disclosed by thepresent disclosure. The specification and embodiments are only beillustrative, and the true scope and spirit of the disclosure areindicated by the following claims.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited tothe precise structure described above and shown in the drawings, andvarious modifications and changes may be made without departing from itsscope. The scope of the present application is only limited by theappended claims.

1. A method for processing resources, performed by a base station,comprising: configuring a first sidelink resource pool and a secondsidelink resource pool, wherein the first sidelink resource pool is aresource pool of sidelinks that can be used by a user equipment (UE)after entering an idle state or an inactive state, and the secondsidelink resource pool is a resource pool of sidelinks that can be usedby the UE in the idle state or the UE in the inactive state after thefirst sidelink resource pool is released; sending information of thefirst sidelink resource pool and information of the second sidelinkresource pool to the UE.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein sending theinformation of the first sidelink resource pool and the information ofthe second sidelink resource pool to the UE, comprises: sending a radioresource control (RRC) reconfiguration message or an RRC release messagecarrying the information of the first sidelink resource pool and theinformation of the second sidelink resource pool.
 3. The method of claim1, further comprising: sending usage duration information of the firstsidelink resource pool.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:configuring a timer for the first sidelink resource pool according tothe duration information; in response to timeout of the timer, releasingthe first sidelink resource pool.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: sending a radio access network (RAN) paging message to theUE in the inactive state, the RAN paging message carrying informationinstructing the UE to delete the first sidelink resource pool.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: sending a paging message to theUE in the idle state, the paging message carrying informationinstructing the UE to delete the first sidelink resource pool.
 7. Amethod for processing resources, performed by a UE, comprising:receiving information of a first sidelink resource pool and informationof a second sidelink resource pool; storing the information of the firstsidelink resource pool and the information of the second sidelinkresource pool; after entering an idle state or an inactive state, usingresources in the first sidelink resource pool for sidelink datatransmission; after the first sidelink resource pool is released, usingresources in the second sidelink resource pool for sidelink datatransmission.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein before the firstsidelink resource pool is released, the method further comprises:ignoring broadcasted information of a third sidelink resource pool,wherein the third sidelink resource pool is a resource pool of sidelinksthat can be used by the UE in the idle state or the UE the inactivestate.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving the information ofthe first sidelink resource pool and the information of the secondsidelink resource pool comprises: receiving an RRC reconfigurationmessage or an RRC release message carrying the information of the firstsidelink resource pool and the information of the second sidelinkresource pool.
 10. The method of claim 7, further comprising: receivingusage duration information of the first sidelink resource pool; afterentering the idle state or the inactive state, using resources in thefirst sidelink resource pool for sidelink data transmission, comprises:after entering the inactive state and being within a range of the usageduration information, using the resources in the first sidelink resourcepool for sidelink data transmission.
 11. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising: configuring a timer for the first sidelink resource poolaccording to the usage duration information; starting the timer inresponse to the UE leaving a connected state.
 12. The method of claim 7,wherein in a case that the UE is in the inactive state, the methodfurther comprises: in response to detecting that the UE leaves a RANarea, deleting the stored information of the first sidelink resourcepool and the stored information of the second sidelink resource pool.13. The method of claim 7, wherein in a case that the UE is in theinactive state, the method further comprises: receiving a RAN pagingmessage, the RAN paging message carrying information instructing the UEto delete the first sidelink resource pool; deleting the information ofthe first sidelink resource pool based on the RAN paging message. 14.The method of claim 7, wherein in a case that the UE is in the idlestate, the method further comprises: in response to detecting that theUE leaves a tracking (TA) area, deleting the stored information of thefirst sidelink resource pool and the stored information of the secondsidelink resource pool.
 15. The method of claim 7, wherein in a casethat the UE is in the idle state, the method further comprises:receiving a paging message, the paging message carrying informationinstructing the UE to delete the first sidelink resource pool; deletingthe information of the first sidelink resource pool based on the pagingmessage.
 16. The method of claim 7, further comprising: after deletingthe information of the first sidelink resource pool, using the resourcesin the second sidelink resource pool for sidelink data transmissionuntil sidelink resources other than the resources in the second sidelinkresource pool are obtained.
 17. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising: deleting the stored information of the second sidelinkresource pool after obtaining the sidelink resources other than theresources in the second sidelink resource pool. 18-34. (canceled)
 35. Abase station, comprising: a processor; a memory configured to storeinstructions executable by the processor; wherein, the processor isconfigured to implement the method for processing resources of claim 1by executing the instructions.
 36. A UE, comprising: a processor; amemory configured to store instructions executable by the processor;wherein, the processor is configured to: receive information of a firstsidelink resource pool and information of a second sidelink resourcepool; store the information of the first sidelink resource pool and theinformation of the second sidelink resource pool; after entering an idlestate or an inactive state, use resources in the first sidelink resourcepool for sidelink data transmission; after the first sidelink resourcepool is released, use resources in the second sidelink resource pool forsidelink data transmission. 37-38. (canceled)
 39. The UE of claim 36,wherein, the processor is further configured to: before the firstsidelink resource pool is released, ignore broadcasted information of athird sidelink resource pool, wherein the third sidelink resource poolis a resource pool of sidelinks that can be used by the UE in the idlestate or the UE in the inactive state.